International Women’s Day invites us to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. In time for this occasion, James W. Gould, PhD, Professor Emeritus, History and International Relations at Scripps College, Claremont, CA, and his team launched the Women in Peace website (www.womeninpeace.org).
It includes birthdates and short biographies of women peacemakers from nearly 200 countries, along with their photographs and pertinent quotes about peace. They also have compiled for the first time information about over 1000 women peace activist events. These efforts will definitely be useful for peace education! Indeed, a section of the website is dedicated to education and offers some tools such as this interesting map that presents a selection of women peacemakers by region:
Since the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325, calling for women’s participation in peacebuilding, was passed 17 years ago, there has been a growing number of studies and reports that underscore the significant role women can play in sustaining peace. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with outbreaks of conflict. Nevertheless, actions for women’s inclusion, leadership and protection remain inadequate. The latest World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report finds that gender parity is over 200 years away if we pursue business as usual… As a result, this year, the International Women’s Day campaign theme is #PressforProgress. Now, more than ever, there is a strong call-to-action to reduce the gender gap in all aspects of life: from access to health and education to political power or earning potential.
